Comes the Raven
by Carnivorous Moogle
Summary: Sing you to sleep or eat you alive, what Pericles has become will find you alone first. (Monster Cove AU, Human!Scoobicles)
1. Alley

**Gift fic of loosely-connected Scoobicles drabbles for musekicker from tumblr, set in her Monster Cove AU (in which the talking animals are human-or start that way-and the curse turns the town's inhabitants into monsters and mythological creatures). This has to be the second-strangest ship I have ever written for, but I've had fun writing it so far and I'm looking forward to seeing where it ends. Enjoy!**

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The first time he is alone with Pericles, they are in an alley and the air is hazy-red and his friends have just tried to kill him.

"A pleasure to meet you, my comrade," Pericles says, legs crossed, one foot swaying lazily back and forth. His purple scarf and encompassing gray coat look old, but well-preserved. Scooby wonders where he got them.

He looks saner than the others described him. Frightening, yes, and his voice is too knowing, drags like a touch, like a body; but

_(cold, bitter, sharp as a knife edge)_

sane.

There are words exchanged: promises of help, and uneasy acceptance. And then they are on their way to save themselves a town.


	2. Backlot

The second time he is alone with Pericles, he is huddled against the corner of the wall behind Fruitmeyer's, and he is panicking because his hands are on fire.

"Stop it," he pleads with them, knowing it's no use. "Stop."

If anything, they only flare brighter. He doesn't put them over his face, because even though they don't seem to be burning he's not sure how fireproof the rest of him is.

He knows exactly how fireproof Shaggy is, though. The stink of charred hair and the messy redness of burnt flesh were a good indication.

He'd gotten bigger and bulkier when he'd changed, gained sharp canines and huge blunt claws, and thought that was the end of it. And then a couple hours ago he'd gotten scared of the thing they were chasing, grabbed for Shaggy's arm, didn't mean to—

Scooby snarls and slams his fists into the pavement, leaving two smoking craters.

"You are only making it worse, you know," says the voice he last heard on tape, telling Mr. E what fools he'd made of them all.

His head jerks to the left, startled, to see the lanky shape of Professor Pericles leaning against the brick wall a few feet away. He seems to have undergone the transformation, too; his complexion is darker, grayer, his eye brighter, and fine, glossy black feathers frame his face.

"What?" Scooby asks, caught off-guard. Pericles looks out of place, here in the soft-edged glow of the late afternoon. Light and shadows don't touch him quite the right way, and it makes Scooby uneasy.

"Calm yourself, or it will never go away," Pericles explains evenly, examining his fingertips (claws, Scooby realizes, sharp and silver; his hands are like talons, the skin of them nearly black). "Your friend is fine, by the way."

Scooby stares. "How did you know about," he starts. And then, "Really?"

"Werewolves heal quite rapidly when silver is not involved. They are infamous for it, in fact. He will be fine in a few days."

There is still guilt for hurting his friend, but the sick terror of it starts to subside. As he watches, the flames flicker, and fade, and blow out in a gust of wind.

Relief pools in his stomach. "I… that… thanks, I guess," he says.

A pause._ "Bitte schün."_

There is the soft sound of wings, and when he looks again Pericles is gone.


	3. Home

The third time he is alone with Pericles, he hears frantic banging on his bedroom window.

Scooby freezes. He's lying on the double bed he shares with Shaggy, who has been dragged out for a haircut by his parents, one hand on the remote and the other popping meatballs into his mouth. A Vincent van Ghoul movie plays on the TV, he doesn't remember which one (which is a sign of how shocked he is, all by itself).

The banging comes again, harder. He remembers that this is the second story, and his skin prickles with dread.

"Let me in!" yells whoever it is, hoarse and desperate. Scooby recognizes the thick accent instantly, and crosses the room to pull aside the curtains.

Pericles is framed in the window, one hand holding onto the top edge of the long frame, feet balancing on the bottom corners. His right side is soaked with something dark, and he grits his teeth when he knocks again.

"Let me in, Scooby-doo!" he repeats, wide-eyed, and the force and fear in his voice have Scooby throwing the latches and opening the window before he has time to stop and think clearly about what he's doing.

The man almost falls inside, all long limbs and eyes and black-feathered wings (wings, that's new, why didn't he notice before). He kneels on the floor, clutching his side and panting as his breathing slows to a less frantic pace.

"What did _that?"_ Scooby asks, shutting the window again as quickly as he can. He peers out the window, fearful that whatever it was won't be stopped by latches.

"Boggan," Pericles gasps. "Nasty little creature. Can't enter without permission." He glances over his shoulder. "Do you have a first-aid kit?"

As it turns out, they do, although Scooby is no use with it. He ends up handing Pericles the things he requests, turning away and going green at the gills whenever there is a hiss of pain or too much blood.

In the end it is done, and Pericles is sitting on the edge of his tub, which is now streaked with blood. He should be worrying about the mess, he knows, about what Shaggy's parents will say when they get home (what Shaggy will say, oh shit), but all he can think about it how gaunt and frail Pericles looks without his overcoat and scarf.

Come to think of it, he looks a lot skinnier than he did last time Scooby saw him. He wonders where he's been sleeping, where he's been getting his meals. "Are you hungry?" he asks, before he can stop himself.

Pericles glances up at him sharply, and hesitates a moment before giving a terse nod.

A thought occurs to him, and he hauls himself to his feet. "Be right back."

He returns a moment later with the bowl of meatballs, which he feels a little ill to look at after helping Pericles dress his wound.

Pericles mutters a _"danke"_ before digging in, wolfing it down like it's his last meal. Scooby feels more ill, now, watching him, and goes into the kitchen to look for cleaning supplies.

They don't talk much after that. Pericles manages to stagger into the living room and onto the couch, where he falls into exhausted sleep almost immediately. Scooby cleans up the mess, buries the used first-aid stuff in the trash, and drops onto the other sofa with a _whumph._

Vincent van Ghoul plays faintly from upstairs. A snarl rises sharply above the rest of the soundtrack, and Pericles shifts in his sleep. Scooby watches him, until the warm, lazy afternoon air and the soothing background noise of one of his favorite movies lulls him to sleep, too.

He wakes up after dark, to Shaggy and parents coming home; they ended up having more errands to run in town than they thought, they explain. (Actually, as Shaggy tells him later, it took them a few visits to realize that trying to give a werewolf a haircut is pointless.)

Scooby glances at the other couch, fighting a thrill of panic.

But it is empty, and there's no sign that Pericles was ever there.

It makes him feel lonely, for some reason, and he can't imagine why.


	4. Looking

The fourth time he is alone with Pericles, he's looking for two missing kids and hoping not to find any blood.

The flashlight beam flicks through the dark woods, over trees and brush, and when it reveals a figure perched in a low-hanging branch Scooby nearly has a heart attack.

"Pericles," he acknowledges, after the shock passes. He still can't quite bring himself to be comfortable around the man, but he hasn't found any real reason to distrust him. Quite the opposite, in fact. Lately they've been finding extra little clues like thank-you whispers, and Scooby is the only one who has any idea who left them.

"A fine night for a walk," Pericles replies. "What's the occasion?"

"Brenda and Dylan are missing," he answers flatly. "I mean, they sneak off all the time, but… there've been people hanging around town the last few days. Weird people. Everyone's worried." He glanced from side to side. "Have you seen them?"

"Brenda and Dylan," muses Pericles, and shakes his head. "Can't say I have." He smiles. "Have you checked Lover's Lane, perhaps?"

Scooby glares. "This isn't funny," he says. "And yeah. That was the first place we looked."

Pericles smirks. "I'm of no further use to you, then, I'm afraid." He examines his talons, which glint in the moonlight. "My speciality is not _finding_ children, unfortunately."

He can feel his temper rising. "Don't give me that," he says. "You can fly. Can't you at least help? Maybe give us a bird's-eye view?"

"No can do, I'm afraid," Pericles says breezily. "I have other business to attend." He spreads his wings and stands, balancing on the branch; he is barefoot, and his feet are long talons as well. _"Auf wiedersehen,_ Scooby-doo," he calls, and takes off, a shadow melting into the night sky.

Scooby grinds his teeth and snarls deep in his chest; flames spring up from his hands, and he curses when the flashlight melts.

He stands there a moment, stewing and confused and inexplicably hurt, before tossing it aside and continuing the search, his burning hands lighting the way.


	5. Sunrise

The fifth time he is alone with Pericles, he's sitting on the beach, waiting for the sun to come up.

Grit stings at the corners of his eyes, from the long night and the sand and from the cold, heavy failure weighing like wet cement in his chest. He picks absently at the wood of the ancient picnic table, blunt claws slowly scratching away the B in 'J + B forever.'

He doesn't hear the footsteps before he feels someone take a seat next to him. He doesn't turn to look. Instead, he stares out over the horizon, where pink is only just starting to spread into the heavy gray-blue light.

"I take it the search was not successful," murmurs Pericles, closer than he'd thought.

He would be so, so angry, if he wasn't so, so tired and defeated. He simply nods, instead.

"Hm."

There is silence for a while after that. The sky lightens.

And then, "I must ask that you do not go looking again."

It takes a moment to register what he's saying. Scooby turns to look at him, blinking in bleary-eyed confusion. "What?"

Pericles is looking him intensely in the eyes, and he is very, very close. Scooby notices that the pupil of his good eye is slitted, catlike. "If this happens again, stay away. By the time anyone realizes they are missing, it will be too late, and there is no reason to risk yourself."

Scooby can only stare. "What?" he asks, again, anger and dread warring for control in his exhausted brain. "What makes you think this will happen again?"

"It will," is his reply, deadly serious. "Trust me."

Pericles leans in, one hand reaching up to touch its claws to Scooby's cheek. "Promise."

He is so tired, so tired, and Pericles is so close, and so warm in the predawn chill, and his voice is soft and deep and velvet-night-black and Scooby wants to rest in it, just wants to rest—

"Scoob!" calls Shaggy, voice carrying over the rocks that still hide him from view. "Come on, we're going home!"

Pericles is gone in an instant, in a flurry of wings. He flees with the dawn, leaving only confusion and lingering warmth behind him.

Scooby stands, head spinning, and heads back to the parking lot.

Behind him, the sun rises.


End file.
